Quality
by AliuIce0814
Summary: Every time he's about to lose a child, Stone comes to him in his dreams. When Morgan is dying, can an old friend hold Sonny's family together from beyond the grave, or will Sonny's lifestyle finally cost him everything? Part 1, Family Stone Chronicles, AU
1. Prologue

"Y'know, man, I'm really wiped." For some reason, the words were setting off warning bells in Sonny's mind, but everything around him was so blurry that he couldn't even tell where he was, let alone who was talking. "Is it all right if we get into this later?"

Sonny heard himself say, "Sure, as long as you tell me it's nothin' serious."

Then his heart skipped a beat.

He knew where he was.

_Stone!_

The strange fog that had been blocking his vision rolled away, and for the first time in ages, Sonny found himself staring at his best friend. Stone was doing his best to avoid his gaze, exactly the way Sonny remembered. When Stone didn't reply, Sonny spoke again without meaning to: "Okay, now I'm worried. Does this have anything to do with your disappearing act?"

_Of course it does! _Sonny tried to tell his memory self, but of course it didn't do any good. Stone was nodding. "I guess so," he whispered miserably.

"You _guess so? _Why are you giving me the run-around?"

If anything, this made Stone more wretched than ever. "Y'know, some things it's just hard to explain, that's all. That's why I—_that's _why I took off, because—" When Stone broke off again, face twisting, Sonny wondered why his memory self wasn't even _trying _to make Stone feel better, dammit! "This thing was all just happening too fast."

"What?" Sonny snapped impatiently. "The trouble with Scully's boys?" _No! Can't you tell it's more than that? _"You've never run from trouble before!" Stone shot him a frustrated look—now that he thought about it, Sonny couldn't blame him—and Sonny threw his hands up in surrender. "But hey! Hey, hey, hey, we all lose our nerve, right? I've been there, man, y'know, you…you get shot, you suddenly feel life leaking out of you, right, huh?" Stone nodded as Sonny clapped his shoulder. _Three to six weeks…_"You get scared, but I want you to—listen to me, okay?"

Sonny caught Stone's miserable gaze. "There's nothing to be ashamed of!"

At this, Stone's face crumpled; the despondent look on his face made Sonny's heart clench painfully. "Oh, God, I've got plenty to be ashamed of, man!"

"_What_? What're you—what's going on?" Sonny was irritated beyond all means and troubled now, too. Stone looked so close to tears, and all Sonny could do was watch and wait.

For a moment, Stone seemed to be at a loss for words. Finally, he moaned, "Y'know, I thought this was hard to tell Robin." He pulled away from Sonny's bewildered grip. "I kept thinking that this would get easier, but it just doesn't get easier, man!" He buried his face in his hands, making memory-Sonny frown and the Sonny that knew what was coming next break down.

"Since when has there been anything that you couldn't tell me, Stone?" _You're my brother…_

"I just want you to know," Stone said shakily, his back to Sonny, "I'll move out because it's hard enough to live with for myself." _We're going to take care of you…do this right, not that there's anything right about this! _

By now, Sonny was beyond disturbed. "_What?_ What? What the hell are you—what—what are you talking about?"

In the memory, Sonny stared bewilderedly as Stone whirled to face him. In the memory, Sonny didn't know—couldn't possibly know!—what horror was coming next. The other Sonny, though, the Sonny who was trapped in this nightmare, knew what came next and woke up screaming into his pillow as Stone's words echoed endlessly through his mind:

"AIDS. I have AIDS, Sonny!"


	2. Without You

For a moment, in his terror, Sonny didn't know where he was. Hell, he didn't even know his own name! All he could think of was Stone, _Stone, __**where was Stone?**__  
_

Then his frantic gaze landed on a framed photo of the kids, and he remembered: it was 2010, not the nineties. Stone was gone. Stone had been gone for over a decade.

_Damn, since when have I dreamed about him? _The last time Sonny could remember having a nightmare this bad was right before…well, right before Michael had been shot, except that time it had been little Robin curled up by Stone, and Sonny repeating the words "He's dead? He's dead."

Or was that the last dream? Shakily, Sonny got up and went into the bathroom. As he splashed cold water from the faucet onto his stinging eyes, he struggled to remember the other dream.

Suddenly, a voice came to mind, soon followed by another: "If I had a son, I would _never _turn my back on him!" "Sonny, he's your son! You just shot your own son!" His own promise followed by his own betrayal. Sonny cursed and rubbed his face with a towel until it felt raw. The night before he had shot Dante, not knowing that he was trying to kill his own child, he had tossed and turned more than he had in years. In his tortured dreams, Stone had been upstairs, dying, and Sonny had been cursing the people who had abandoned the boy to his fate. That night, like this one, he had woken up screaming bloody murder; it had taken him almost an hour to calm himself down, and even then he had gone to sleep with an old photo of him and Brenda, Robin and Stone all laughing and having a good time.

Sonny's legs were still trembling. Cussing, he stumbled back into his bedroom and flicked on a light. Then he tore apart his closet looking for the one thing that might get him to sleep. _Where, where, where did I put it? _He had almost worked himself up to a frenzy when, by chance, his hand hit what he was looking for. Gingerly, reverently, Sonny pulled the picture frame out of his closet and staggered backwards onto his bed.

"Hey, Stone," Sonny whispered thickly. "Hey, brother." There was Stone, grinning up at him from behind the glass frame. Instinctively, Sonny felt himself smiling back. "Not that I'm crazy or anything, y'know, talking to your picture…but I figure, somehow, somewhere…you're hearing me."

Sonny's pounding heart was finally slowing down. With a sigh, he fell back onto his pillow with Stone's picture clutched to his chest. The dream was slipping away with the fear, but the regret was staying. The regret always stayed. Sonny had just learned, from years and years of killing and losing, to stamp it down with other weaknesses like pain and remorse.

Slowly, his eyelids started to droop shut. "Love you, man," he mumbled to where Stone was resting against his heart. "Miss you…"

Then the phone rang. "God_damn! _Three in the morning," Sonny groused. "What—who the hell…" With a yawn, he picked up the phone by his bed and glanced at the caller ID with a frown.

"What…Carly? Carly, what's up?"

"Sonny…" The fear that had melted away rushed back through Sonny at the tears in Carly's voice. "Sonny…"

"Carly, you got to talk to me, all right? What is it?" Sonny said urgently.

"Sonny, it's…it's Morgan…an accident…he's at the hospital! Sonny, Morgan's hurt! He's…"

"Oh my God." Stone's photograph slipped from between Sonny's numb fingers and bounced onto the mattress. "What—what kind of an accident? Is Morgan going to be okay?"

"Car…I don't know, they won't let me see him! Please, Sonny, come on!"

"I'll be right there!" Sonny pressed the end button; then, with a furious cry, he threw the phone across the room, where it hit the wall and smashed into pieces. He pulled on some clothes without much thought as to what he was wearing and managed to stumble halfway down the stairs before he even realized what he was doing. _"Max! Milo!"_

The brothers staggered into the hallway exhaustedly. "Yeah, boss?"

Sonny's thumb was hovering over the "1" on his cell phone. "Morgan was in a car crash. I got to get to the hospital!"

In moments, Sonny was in the limo. Finally, he let his thumb drop onto the "1". "Jason?"

"Sonny, Morgan was in a crash—"

"I know!" Sonny snapped. "Are you at the hospital?"

There was silence for a moment; Sonny could almost imagine Jason nodding before he realized that Sonny couldn't see him. "Yeah. Sonny, Morgan's—hurry." Jason's voice was strained. With a prickle of fear, Sonny realized that his level-headed enforcer—his _friend—_was perilously close to tears. "He's in the OR."

Sonny's stomach twisted at the thought of his little boy under the scalpel. "I'm coming!"

As the limo pulled up to the hospital, Sonny had to duck into the bushes for a moment and vomit. He had just realized that, once again, Stone had come to him when he was about to lose his son.


	3. Goodbye Love

The first thing Sonny did when he got inside the hospital was to almost run over Epiphany. The nurse caught him by the upper arm with surprising strength and set him back on his feet.

"Careful!"

Sonny was shaking. "Morgan—my son—where—"

Epiphany jerked her head to the elevators. "Third floor. That's where everyone's waiting."

Sonny nodded and was about to launch himself into an elevator when Epiphany caught his arm again. For a moment, she stared at him as if she were about to tell him something terribly important. Instead, she let him go with a strangely worried look that made Sonny's stomach turn again. _My God, what have my kids done to deserve this?_

The third floor couldn't come fast enough. As soon as the elevator doors began to slide open, Sonny darted between them towards a familiar blonde head. "Carly!"

"Sonny! Thank God, Sonny's here—" Her blue eyes were wide and red-rimmed as she shot to her feet. "Sonny, he's—"

"How's Morgan?" Sonny caught Carly's arm much the way Epiphany had caught his a few moments earlier. "Are they still…"

"They're operating." Carly's voice shook. "Something about a—a hemorrhage, I don't know…"

"Who's—"

"Patrick." Robin slid out from behind the nurses' station. "I was finishing up another surgery, I couldn't be in there, but I made sure Patrick would be the one to take care of Morgan."

Sonny tried to say "thanks", but what came out instead was something between a groan and a cry. He collapsed into one of the cold metal chairs with a hand over his face. "Oh, God…"

"What _happened? _Mom, where's Morgan?"

Sonny jerked his head up in time to see Michael barreling out of the elevator with Dante and Lulu a step behind him. Both of his sons looked petrified.

_"Michael!" _In an instant, Carly had her arms wrapped around their son's neck. "My baby…"

Dante's eyes widened more. Quietly, he turned to Sonny, who tried to shove away the pesky flare of pleasure at even being acknowledged by his oldest child. "What happened, Sonny?"

Sonny shook his head weakly. "I just got here. Morgan's in the OR because he hemorrhaged or something from the crash. Patrick's doing the surgery, so hopefully he'll be—be okay."

Lulu was tugging gently but insistently on her cousin's arm. "Carly. _Carly. _What _happened?" _

Finally, Carly released a bewildered Michael and started to explain. "Morgan had been bugging Jax all day about going down to the docks and trying out Jax's new boat. I had told him no, but I guess Jax finally gave in and took him down there after dinner. You know how the boys wear themselves out when they're out on the water…" Carly shivered; Michael wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "They were coming home, and it was dark, and I guess Jax must have been more tired than he expected to be. He'd had a long day; that's why I didn't want him out there!"

The sick feeling was growing again in Sonny's stomach. More furiously than he intended to, he snarled, "What happened, Carly?"

Lulu shot him a dirty look, but Sonny ignored her. Something about the panicked look on Carly's face reminded him of Stone's look right before he said something Sonny didn't want to hear.

Miserably, Carly whispered, "Jax fell asleep behind the wheel and smashed through—through a guardrail. He's—he's—Jax is—"

As Carly finally succumbed to tears, Sonny jerked his head away from Michael's sickened gaze and instead caught Robin's eyes beseechingly. After a moment, she nodded and said, "Jax is dead."

At this, Carly crumpled into a chair with a howl. Michael staggered to the floor with his arms still around his mother. "No," Lulu whispered. Sonny looked up and away, but that couldn't block out the sound of Michael's tears. This time, his gaze met Dante's; Dante closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Lulu comfortingly. "God, no."

A feeling similar to claustrophobia was beginning to overwhelm Sonny. It grew and grew until he stormed to his feet and hurtled down the hallway, away from the pain of both knowing and not knowing.

"Sonny?"

"Jason!" For the second time that night, Sonny almost ran someone over. He stepped backwards in shock and found himself face-to-face with Jason and baby Josslyn. "What—is Jax really—"

"Yeah."

Sonny ran a shaky hand through his hair. "I—can I hold her?" he asked.

Jason's blue eyes narrowed. "What, so you won't hit anything?" When Sonny shrugged, Jason relaxed and nodded. "That's what I was doing. She was keeping me in line, keeping my mind off things."

As soon as the baby was in his arms, Sonny felt the sick, shaky feeling diminish a little. "Hi, sweetheart," he whispered into her hair. To Jason, he added, "Morgan's still in surgery. You should probably check on Carly. She was…not good. I wanted to—to help her, y'know, but after how much we've fought lately, especially over Morgan, I figured—and the walls were closing in on me over there…" Sonny gave Jason a pleading look. Jason must have sensed how close the mob boss was to the brink; after a moment, he nodded slowly.

"Keep an eye on Josslyn." Suddenly, Sonny found himself almost pulled off the ground in a tight embrace. Before Sonny could return the hug, Jason pulled away and jogged down the hall to Carly's shaking, shuddering form.

After a long, silent moment, Josslyn whispered something in baby-talk and reached one hand up to pat Sonny's face inquisitively. With a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, Sonny leaned against the wall and slid to the ground with the baby in his arms. "You probably know that something bad happened, don't you? I'm sorry," he mumbled into her downy locks. "I never liked your dad. I guess you could go so far as to say I hated his guts, but I know he loved you. No…little baby deserves to miss out on a daddy who loves them…" _…I would _never _turn my back…_

"Sonny?"

Sonny's head jerked up. He must have drifted off; his head was stuck at an awkward angle, and Josslyn was sprawled across his lap in a tiny snoring heap. Robin was standing over them both with one hand held out to him. "Robin."

"Morgan's out of surgery." _Morgan! _Immediately, Sonny wrapped an arm tightly around Josslyn's waist and caught Robin's hand. Then, he let the tiny slip of a woman pull him back to his feet just the way she always had.


	4. I Should Tell You

Once Robin pulled Sonny to Morgan's room, she stopped Sonny right outside the door with a hand against his chest.

"Wait—what's the matter? I want to see my son!"

"I know. I know, Sonny," Robin said gently. "I just want you to be prepared for what's in there. The surgery was able to stop the internal bleeding, but Morgan does have multiple contusions on his face as well as a broken femur and humerus on his right side. In English," she added at Sonny's frustrated glower, "his face is badly bruised, and his upper arm and upper leg are both broken. I'm warning you so that you don't say anything…not that you would intentionally, but I can only imagine what I would do if I saw Emma like that."

Sonny closed his eyes and nodded. For a moment, he buried his face in Josslyn's fine blonde hair and inhaled the scent of baby shampoo and strawberries until he had calmed down again. When he opened his eyes, Robin reached out a hand and squeezed his fingers. "Is he awake?" he croaked.

Robin's grip on his hand grew tighter, and so did the band around Sonny's heart. "Not yet…"

"Robin, you got to tell me the truth. You have to. Is this," Sonny swallowed and started again, "is this as bad as Michael?"

The pain on Robin's face was all he needed to know.

Without thinking, Sonny dropped Josslyn into Robin's arms and threw the door to Morgan's room open. Michael and Jason were in chairs on either side of Morgan's bed, and Carly was on the bed, curled beside her son, but Sonny only had eyes for his littlest boy. "Morgan."

In an instant, Sonny was on his knees by the bed. Morgan's face—what little of it that wasn't mottled with bruises—was pale and still. It was this, more than the neck brace or the gargantuan cast on the boy's leg, that sent agony spiraling through Sonny. His boy was much, much too still, just like both of his brothers had once been. The only comfort was that, this time, a son wasn't in the hospital on Sonny's account, but it was a small comfort indeed when the boy shouldn't have ever been there at all.

"Hey, buddy," Sonny whispered into Morgan's hair. "I'm here, okay? You know both of your brothers have been in a hospital bed before, and I've been in the hospital before, and we're all right now. We're all better, right? I know you're probably scared, and you don't know what's going on, but—but you're going to be okay, all right? Mom's here, Jason's here, your brothers are here, and I'm here. We're not going anywhere. Hang in there, Morgan, okay?"

"Is he really going to be okay?"

Carly had lifted her head and was staring blankly at Sonny. He tried to say _yeah! Yeah, he will be!, _but no sound came out. Instead, they just stared at each other for a long time in painful silence.

"Carly. Don't do this." Sonny's neck popped as he whirled to face the door. Lulu and Dante were back from wherever they had been hiding; with a sigh, Lulu hurried over to Carly and wrapped an arm around her. "Come out here. We need to talk."

"But Morgan—"

"Dante and Jason and Sonny are all here." Lulu caught Michael's wrist and pulled him to his feet. "I promise they'll come and get us if anything happens, all right? Now, listen, it's just like when Michael was in a coma. You can't start worrying in front of Morgan…"

As the door swung shut behind the three of them, Dante edged forward and unfolded what he was carrying: a Yankees blanket. A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of Sonny's lips as Dante gently tucked Morgan in. "There you go, little bro," Dante whispered as he squeezed his brother's good hand.

"Thanks," Sonny said. Dante threw him a sharp glance and pulled up one of the chairs.

"Yeah, well, I didn't do it for you."

"I'm glad you thought of it."

"Somebody had to. Hospitals can be pretty bad when you don't have any of your own stuff there," Dante snapped with a dark look at his father. Sonny winced and choked back a furious retort.

Both of them jumped at the sound of a chair scraping against the floor. Jason cleared his throat uncomfortably and gestured towards the door. "I should probably go check on Josslyn."

"Oh, yeah." Sonny winced again. "Man, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you. I left her with Robin."

Jason nodded. For a moment, he hovered over Morgan as if he were going to say something, but in the end he just ruffled the boy's hair and slipped out the door.

Outside the window, the horizon was starting to blush pink as the sun edged towards the sky. Sonny and Dante watched each other warily over Morgan's unmoving form until Sonny finally dropped his gaze to his smaller son.

"We got you covered, buddy," Sonny whispered. Then, after dropping a kiss onto Morgan's forehead, he stretched out in the chair Jason had left behind and struggled not to fall asleep…

..."I _hate _unpacking, but I know if I don't, everything's going to get all wrinkled," Brenda groused as she staggered inside with her suitcase. Sonny sighed and flopped into the nearest chair.

"Well, let it, 'cause I'm going to unpack my toothbrush," he grumbled as he unzipped his bag, "and I'm hittin' the rack."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Sonny had been about to stand up, but he slowly lowered himself back into his chair at the disbelieving look on Brenda's face. "Wha…?"

"The big secret you've been keeping?"

Sonny bit back a groan. "Tonight?"

"Yeah, well, you said you were going to tell me as soon as we got home, and…" Brenda threw out her arms. "We're home, so might as well get it out of the way."

_Clunk. _In Sonny's mind, that was the sound his heart made as it dropped through his stomach. Brenda was watching him with those innocent brown eyes; how was he supposed to tell…? It was like Stone said: it didn't get easier.

"Uh—I tell you—I tell you what…" Sonny climbed to his feet reluctantly. "Why don't we get a good night's sleep and get into it first thing in the morning?"

It was a hopeless case; Sonny had known that since Brenda had confronted him. Even now, her face was growing stormy. "Why is it such a big deal?"

Sonny scrambled for an answer. "I'm _beat, _Brenda, y'know, we both are."

"You know that I'm not going to be able to get any sleep!" Brenda's voice crackled with frustration. "I'll be tossing and turning all night wondering what's going on!"

He wasn't getting out of this one. "I don't…want to have another fight over this."

"Neither do I." Brenda shook her head. "Look, I know whatever this secret is, it is tearing you up inside—" _You got that right— _"which is makin' us both crazy. What you're doing right now is really unfair, y'know, because you told me at the wedding that you'd tell me what's going on right afterwards, and I trusted that. Y'know? I think I was really good about it, too: I let it go so we could have a good time, and we did!" Brenda's eyes sparkled for a second. "We had a good time."

The word _trust _smacked Sonny in the chest, hard. "Yeah, we did, sweetie."

"But, you know," Brenda pressed on, "the whole time, all I could think about was I know there's something really heavy going on with you, and I can_not _believe that you want to leave me _hanging _again!"

_ "Dad, is Morgan okay? …Dad? Dad, wake up. Dad!"_

Sonny squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, man. You're making this way hard, babe…"

_"Dad, come on, wake up! Are—are you okay? Are you—Michael! Dad won't wake up!"  
_

"This doesn't have to be hard!" Brenda was pleading now, and that was the worst part of it: if she knew what she was about to hear, Sonny knew she wouldn't be begging to hear it.

"It—"

_"Kristina, what's wrong?"_

_"I can't wake up Dad…I think he's having a nightmare…"  
_

"I don't—" Brenda leaned against something and chose her words carefully. "I don't want to pressure you. If you just tell me what's going on, maybe I could help you." After a moment, she laughed humourlessly. "At least I could stop imagining all the horrible things it could possibly be."

_Horrible? Baby, this is more than horrible._

_ "Dad, can you hear me? Dad, it's Michael. Wake up. You're dreaming! It's just a dream"  
_

_"Oh, my God…"_

The words tore from Sonny's mouth, leaving a rotten taste like bile in their wake. "Stone's got AIDS," he said harshly. His voice cracked and wavered. "Is that _horrible_ enough for you?"

_"Dad…DAD! Wake up!"_

"STONE!"

* * *

Well, as you can see, I've been watching old-school GH on YouTube courtesy of my brand-spankin' new high-speed Internet. Something about the connection between Stone, Robin, and Sonny (and OH MY GOODNESS, SONNY!) just tugged at my heart and caught my imagination. The result is this fic. Yeah, yeah, I know I should be working on "That Witch Just Won't Die!", which I am, but the muses are rabid and run on whims rather than a schedule. I hope you're enjoying this so far!

Cheers!

Icey


	5. You'll See

First and Last Disclaimer: If I owned GH…1. Claudia would be alive. 2. Claudia and Sonny's baby would be alive. 3. Claudia and Sonny would be married. 4…

…well, you get the idea, right?

* * *

"Dad!'

Sonny jerked awake to find a pair of liquid brown eyes an inch away from his face. Faintly, he realized that someone was yelling. Then he figured out that it was him.

Instantly, he slammed his jaws shut, and the horrifying sound died away. "Kristina? Michael?"

The siblings nodded shakily. For a moment, Sonny just stared at them, trying to work out where he was and what they were doing here. _Morgan! Oh, God. _

"You okay, Dad?" Michael was watching his father with the same worried look that Jason had perfected. Sonny wanted to nod, but instead he reached out and pulled Kristina and Michael into a tight hug. Kristina gasped as she ended up on her father's lap for the first time in years. "Dad!"

Finally, Sonny released his children with a shaky sigh; he noticed, though, that Kristina stayed on his lap. "Sorry, guys. Bad dream."

"We could kind of tell." Kristina raised an eyebrow at him and then tilted her head towards Morgan's hospital bed. Molly was curled up beside Morgan much the same way as Carly had been the night before. "Dante texted me, like, a hundred and fifty times last night when we wouldn't pick up our home phone."

"A hundred and fifty-seven," Molly corrected softly from Morgan's bed. She was carefully brushing Morgan's hair with her fingers. Kristina's eyes softened; she climbed off of Sonny's lap and moved to stand by her little brother and sister. With a swift, worried glance at each other, Sonny and Michael followed.

Molly was fiddling with Morgan's hospital wristband now. "He called me from the boat last night," she murmured. "He and Jax were having so much fun…" Shakily, she glanced up at Sonny.

"Do you think that's what he's thinking about right now? Good things?"

Sonny tried to paste a cheap smile on his face but failed at Molly's wide-eyed innocence; the look his niece was giving him was much too close to Brenda's curious stare from his dream last night. Instead, he sighed and sat gingerly beside Molly. "You know what, sweetheart? If we keep telling Morgan about all the fun things going on right now, I bet he'll want to wake up faster." He was lying through his teeth, but it was a lie laced with hope. Molly seemed to swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

For a moment, Molly considered Sonny's words carefully. "Okay…well, I'm going to start Science Camp today, Morgan! Remember how I told you about that?"

Kristina laughed shakily. "Only you could be excited about Science Camp, Molly."

When Molly shot Kristina an aggravated glare, Sonny quickly intervened. "I don't know, Kristina. Molly, do you get to blow things up or something? Y'know, something like those volcanoes with baking soda?"

"Exactly!" Molly poked her tongue out at Kristina and continued, "It's going to be so cool, Morgan. I wish you could come with me. It's not quite as cool as what the eighth-graders get to do, though." Molly dropped her voice to a stage whisper and muttered into Morgan's ear: "Eighth-graders get to dissect frogs."

"Ew!" Kristina pulled a face. "Okay, Molly, I really don't think Morgan wants to hear about frogs, especially not dead ones." At the word _dead, _she faltered and caught Michael's eye; Michael shrugged and squeezed her fingers gently.

Sonny jumped. Molly was tugging at his shirt sleeve. When she had caught his attention, she hesitated. "What is it, sweetie?"

For a moment, Molly bit her lip thoughtfully. Then she leaned against Sonny's arm and whispered, "I'm scared, Uncle Sonny!"

Sonny frowned. "Hey, Kristina, Michael, keep your brother company for a minute, okay?" Then, with a groan, he picked Molly up and carried her out to the waiting area. His niece yelped and wrapped her arms and legs around Sonny like a monkey. "Oh, Molly, you are way too big for this!" he said as he lowered them both into one of those cold metal hospital chairs.

"What if he dies?" Molly's voice was shaky but to the point. Instinctively, Sonny's grip on her arms tightened. _Morgan can't die!_

It took Sonny a minute to calm himself down. When he did, he met Molly's tearful gaze with a sigh. "Hey, listen to me, all right? You remember when Dante was…was in the hospital?" When Molly nodded, Sonny continued: "He was hurt really bad, right? He was way out of it for a while, and the doctors had to do surgery on him. Where is he now?"

Molly cocked her head thoughtfully. "In the cafeteria, getting coffee and breakfast for Lulu and Carly."

"Yeah. Dante's okay! What about Michael? Do you remember when he was, uh, in a coma? I know you were pretty little…"

"No, I remember. Kristina worried about him so much that sometimes she got sick. That's when she started to—" Molly broke off, blushing, and looked away. Sonny realized that Molly had been ready to mention some deep, dark secret that Kristina didn't want told. "She really missed him, Uncle Sonny! I really miss Morgan!"

"Hey, hey, all right, all right." Sonny wiped away a stray tear that had cut a path across Molly's cheek. "Listen—look at me. Look at me! Listen to me, all right? I know this is really hard on you. You're scared and confused and mad, too."

Molly frowned. "How did you know I was mad?"

Sonny shrugged. "I've been in your position a lot of times. It's really frustrating—beyond frustrating, y'know?—to have somebody you—you love in a position where nothing you can do can help them."

"Except talking to him helps."

"Yeah, exactly right, sweetie. So," he set her on her feet with a groan, "you go to your Science Camp, all right? Go have fun and come back here and tell Morgan all about it. I'm not going to tell you to not worry 'cause, well, it's not possible. Just have fun for Morgan, right? He'd like that."

Molly nodded. "Thanks…love you," she mumbled bashfully. Before Sonny could say anything in return, a scream and a crash had him on his feet.

"Stay here, baby girl!" Sonny hurtled towards Morgan's room without stopping to see if Molly was listening to him. There was a crowd blocking the path to Morgan's door; Sonny had to shove his way through the mass of people to get to Dante. "What _happened_?"

Dante's face hardened. "Carly had a nervous breakdown—"

"—not that you care, Sonny!" Lulu snapped tearfully. Dante squeezed her shoulders and continued:

"They had to get her out of Morgan's room. It was affecting his heart rate or something, so Jason and Michael helped Epiphany take her to the psych ward. You leave for five minutes," Dante snarled, though Sonny couldn't be sure whether it was meant for him or if Dante was berating himself.

"There's nothing any of us could have done, right?" Sonny began. Dante's jaw squared off so fast that it popped, but before the younger man could retort, Robin slipped out the door to Morgan's room with a clipboard in her arms.

Sonny launched towards her and caught her arm. His heart was thumping wildly as if he had just run a marathon. "Is he—Morgan—is he—"

Robin sighed. She looked exceptionally pale and tired. "He's stabilized, but his heart's been weakened some, probably from the shock of Carly's breakdown. I'd say…" Gently, she pulled Sonny's hands off her shoulders and squeezed them in her own. "It's up to Morgan now."


	6. Another Day

Sonny dropped Robin's hands as if they were on fire and whirled away from her. A part of him knew he wasn't being fair to her, knew that he shouldn't blame her for telling him the truth, _and knew _that she was still waiting behind him with one hand reaching out to comfort him, but right now his rage and grief were making his head buzz. With a curse, he shouldered his way into Morgan's room and stared down at his smallest son.

Robin had obviously been telling him the truth; Morgan was paler than ever, and the heart monitor seemed to be beeping erratically. With a choked sob, Sonny dropped to his knees by Morgan's head. Faintly, he could hear the door open and shut behind him. He instantly recognized the footsteps as belonging to Dante.

Sonny had been fighting his tears for too long; he knew that, sooner or later, they were going to spill out at full force. For now, though, he forced them back and tried to memorize the color of Morgan's hair, the slope of his childish cheeks, the impish sparkle that had once lit the boy's brown eyes when he was plotting something with Molly. A strange ache was filling Sonny's chest. Not for the first time, he wondered if it was really possible to die of a broken heart.

"_It's really frustrating—beyond frustrating, y'know?—to have somebody you—you love in a position where nothing you can do can help them."_

_"Except talking to him helps."_

_"Yeah, exactly right, sweetie."_

Finally, Sonny swallowed the lump in his throat and straightened up. Jax was dead; Carly was breaking apart. It seemed that the only parent Morgan had left was Sonny, and he'd be damned if he didn't try to make things right for his son.

_If I had a son, I would __never __turn my back on him! _

Sonny's face hardened as he wrapped his hand around Morgan's. "Listen to me, buddy. I know you're scared. It's all right to be scared, but being scared of something doesn't mean you're not brave. Y'know, your dad's been scared before. Yeah, I've been scared! Jason's been scared before, scared for you, scared for your brother…" Sonny wasn't sure where the words were coming from, but he couldn't stop them. "Listen to me, all right? Listen, I named you for the two bravest guys I know: Jason and—and Stone, and you're just as strong as them. You hang in there, buddy. I know you can. I didn't name you wrong. I know you can fight through this! We're all pulling for you. You can make it, Morgan. I swear I didn't name you wrong."

When he finished speaking, Sonny found himself shaking the way he had when he had been trapped in a tiny, broken-down elevator. The walls were closing in again, and it seemed that whatever strength had been in those words had gone to Morgan and left Sonny drained. He leaned his head against the side of the bed with a groan.

"Who's Morgan named for?"

Sonny's head jerked up so fast that he smashed it against the rail on the side of the bed. He cursed violently and rubbed his aching head as he turned towards Dante. Dante looked surprising contrite: he shrugged sympathetically and pulled up a chair.

"I know 'Morgan' is for Jason Morgan, but…" Dante frowned. "You mentioned his middle name. 'Stone'?"

After a moment, Sonny nodded slowly and sat in the other chair. "Yeah."

"Who…who's Stone?" Dante's frown deepened. "I honestly thought I knew everyone around here."

Once again, Sonny's heart dropped through his stomach. "Yeah, well, that's 'cause…" He sighed and began again. "It's a long story. I don't know if you'd want to hear it."

Dante considered this. Then he shrugged. "I might as well. It's not like I have anything better to do. Mac gave me time off and everything."

"Right. Uh, well…I guess," Sonny admitted, "I don't usually tell this story, y'know, so I don't really know where to start." He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "Okay. In, uh, the early nineties, I was just sort of starting out, right? I met this kid who was living on the streets, name was Stone Cates. So I brought him off the streets, right, and hired him."

"Hired him…" Dante raised an eyebrow. Sonny nodded at the unvoiced question.

"Yeah."

_"Right."_

"Let's see…" Sonny rubbed his hands together shakily. "He had a shitty life: parents abandoned him, then his _brother,_" Sonny snorted, "Jagger, couldn't take care of him, so he ended up in the system. The only way Stone could get out of the system was to live on the streets, and, y'know, that's not exactly a good crowd.

"Stone was good, though. Stone was _great_. I don't know how it happened, but suddenly he was my friend, and then I couldn't live without the guy!"

"_Get over here! Where the hell you been? I missed you!"  
_

"Luke had a room over his place where Stone and I stayed. I don't even really know how to explain how close our group was. Luke, Brenda, me, Stone…we were our own little family, y'know?"

Dante's eyes widened. "So this guy, Stone, he put up with you all the time?"

Sonny shrugged. "Eh, not all the time. I guess he was one of the only people who could tell me what to do and not face the consequences."

At that, Dante's eyebrows shot up. He now so resembled a deer in the headlights that Sonny had to fake a coughing fit to hide his laughter. "You _listened _to him?"

"Nah. Maybe sometimes, but Stone put up with a lot, I will say that." Sonny nodded. "He put up with a lot…"

"_Sonny, just chill out!"_

_ "No, _you _chill out!"  
_

_"Ah, man-!"_

Dante cleared his throat. Sonny jumped and realized with a rueful smile that he must have been quiet for too long. "Put up with what, exactly?"

It was Sonny's turn to clear his throat awkwardly. "Me…my problems. I shoved Stone off the docks once when he was trying to calm me down."

"Wow." Dante's eyebrows shot up again. "What, girl problems?"

Sonny shot Dante a curious glance. "Is it that obvious? Yeah." _Karen… _"Well, anyway. Like I said, we sort of created our own family: Stone, me, our friends, and our girlfriends, which is when I really got to know Robin."

"Robin…from here? The doctor?"

"That's the only Robin I know." Sonny grinned and shook his head. "'Course, she and Stone were just kids when they started dating. Cutest damn thing I ever saw was Robin changing Stone's mind about something. He was really dyslexic, couldn't read to save his life, but somehow Robin got him to memorize Shakespeare, put on a pair of tights, and play Romeo opposite of her Juliet at the Nurses' Ball."

After a moment of frozen silence, Dante began to shake with laughter. "Oh, man, and I thought I was the hopeless romantic! The things we do for love, huh? Wow. Man. He must have really loved her."

Suddenly, Sonny's smile melted away. "Yeah. Yeah, he really did, and Robin loved him, too. That's what made it even harder when…when…" Sonny shook his head, and Dante's face grew grim, too. "Oh, God, I didn't think it'd be this hard to tell about."

"_Y'know, I thought this was hard to tell Robin. I kept thinking that this would get easier, but it just doesn't get easier, man!"_

"What, did he get killed in one of your mob wars or something?"

The scathing words were enough to propel Sonny out of his seat, and for a minute, glaring at Dante, he saw the turncoat cop who deserved to be "taken care of" instead of the unwilling son who deserved a second chance. After a moment, all the fury drained away, and Sonny staggered back into his chair with an almost tearful sigh. With Dante's contemptuous gaze burning him, Sonny shook his head and forced the words out for what felt like the millionth time. "Stone had AIDS." _Is that _horrible _enough for you?_

Dante suddenly looked like a fish with his mouth popping open and slamming closed as he struggled to think of something to say. "He was HIV positive?"

"It was beyond that," Sonny shook his head again, "by the time he found out. I—I had him tested when I pulled him off the streets, y'know, 'cause he hadn't been hanging with the best crowd; his ex-girlfriend was a junkie, but Stone was negative! You know what T cells are?"

"Um…sort of. Good if you have them, bad if you don't?" Dante shrugged.

"Yeah. Well, the HIV test is, or it was, anyway, based on antibodies, the little things that fight germs. The thing is, it takes a while for those antibodies to form, so if you get tested too early, they can't detect it. We didn't know enough to get him tested again. It came down to, he couldn't shake the flu." Sonny shivered. "I didn't think anything—_anything—_about it, but the therapist who was helping him with the dyslexia did. Stone got tested again, and—T cells, right? Supposed to have a bunch of them?"

"_Well, normal would be about five hundred or more."_

"_All right…"_

"By the time he was diagnosed," Sonny smiled humorlessly, "he only had eighty of 'em. It was full-blown AIDS, man. He thought I was going to—thought I was going to kick him out of my place."

"Did you?"

Once again, Sonny had to shove back a flood of rage. "_Hell_, no. No. I couldn't—I could _never—_damn!" The walls were closing in again; Sonny sprang to his feet and began to pace. "He was so scared. We were all so damn scared, but the worst part for Stone was—" He froze and turned his beseeching gaze on his oldest son. "He never meant to give it to her," Sonny said miserably.

"He never meant to hurt her. He loved her so _damn _much, he made me promise to take care of her when he was gone and _hell_, did I ever fail!"

"Who—" Realization dawned on Dante's face, closely followed by horror. "Robin."

Sonny nodded bleakly. "Can you imagine? Can you imagine loving someone so much, like—like you and Lulu, all right? If you suddenly knew you were going to die, but not only that, you knew you were going to be the reason the girl you loved died!" Sonny's voice cracked; he staggered back to his chair with a sideways glance at Morgan, who was as pale and still as ever in his hospital bed.

Dante now looked as pale as his little brother. "So he died," he said slowly, "knowing that he gave—HIV—to Robin? Oh, God." He shook his head slowly. "Sonny, I can't even imagine how horrible he felt."

"Yeah, well, he didn't want to show it. Stone told me he wanted to go out laughing, and that he wanted to be at home, not in some sterile hospital bed. He wanted to," Sonny waved a hand in a feeble effort to catch the right word, "_relish _what time he had left with us, so when he had—doctors said three to six weeks—I brought Stone home and started taking care of him there.

"I don't want to turn this into some kind of lecture 'cause I know you won't like that. I got to tell you something, though: _never," _Sonny said shakily, "and I mean _never, _leave anything you have to say for later. Don't you ever think you have all kinds of time left. You might not! You never know what's going to happen next."

Dante leaned towards his father. "Like what? What shouldn't I leave for later?"

This was it, the crux of the matter, the reason Sonny's voice cracked and heart broke every time he voiced Stone's name. Slowly, he lifted his head until his red-rimmed eyes matched his son's steady gaze. "Telling somebody you love them. He was—_he was—"_

"…_if I don't say it now, it won't happen."  
_

_"Go on."_

"_I need to tell you that if I could change places—" Sonny turned his head away from Stone's pale, worn face. "If…if there's—" Stone rested a gentle hand on Sonny's shoulder. "Anything, anything to change what happened, anything in the world I would."_

"I couldn't—God, I couldn't change this! The fact that I couldn't bully it into being my way, buy it out, was—was killing me, still is! What's the point of all this power, money, y'know, if it can't save—" Sonny glanced at Morgan with a choked noise. "Morgan, can't stop what happened to him, and Stone, I couldn't—if I could have just—" He stumbled over his words again, and Dante, unthinkingly, leaned even closer. "If I could have just traded places with Stone, man—"

…"_If I could change places with you, I would," Sonny breathed. "Although God knows I wouldn't have the guts." _

_ Stone's almost sightless eyes were filling slowly with tears. "I think you would do that, man." _

_ "Something else that I have to say…" and for this, Sonny took Stone's hand and clutched it as he had never clutched to anything before._

"Couldn't change—if—"

…_He brushed a kiss against Stone's fingers, for once not worrying about appearances. His voice was strained when he struggled to speak. "You know I always told you I wanted a brother?"…_

Sonny wasn't crying yet, but the tears were choking off his voice. "He was my _brother_!"

_"Well…" Suddenly, Sonny's heart twisted so painfully that he couldn't do anything but cry. "You're my brother." Shakily, he reached out a hand to touch Stone's cheek. " I got a brother! I got a brother. I got a brother—"_

"_I know—"_

"—_and you always will be."_

_ "Same for me, man!" Stone's voice was even weaker than Sonny's, but he was smiling harder than Sonny could remember. "Same for me."_

"My brother…god_damn!"_

Sonny was shaking, and still he couldn't cry. Everything seemed unreal, as if this were just another of those awful nightmares that he needed to wake up from. Then, a hand brushed his shoulder, and Sonny jumped so hard that his chair inched backwards.

Dante stared at his father bewilderedly with one stunned hand frozen on his shoulder. Then, with a soft sort of cry, he sprang to his feet and darted out the door.

_"I got a brother."_

"Stone, _God_, Morgan…"

Sonny still couldn't cry, but he sure as hell could curl up in a ball beside his little son and try to find some sleep.


	7. Will I

Now, at least for a couple of chapters, we enter the mind of twenty-something police detective Dante Falconeri.

* * *

_Too close. Way too close._

Dante stumbled out of Morgan's hospital room like a drunkard. His mind was swirling with thoughts of antibodies and T cells and far-too-early deaths. Sonny, now Sonny had been terrifying to behold. Dante had thought that being shot point-blank was stunning, but the way the man's voice had cracked as he recounted Stone's story…well, that was another level of horrible entirely.

The worst part? _Dante had almost bought into it. _

Not that he didn't believe Sonny, but why had he tried to comfort the man? This was a crook who had knowingly shot a cop point-blank—_"You cold-eyed bastard!"— _not to mention that the cop in question was _Dante—_so why had Dante suddenly felt the urge to reach out and pat Sonny's shoulder comfortingly?

_"He was my _brother! _My brother, god_damn!_"_

"God_damn," _Dante sighed as he leaned against the window at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, Dante, are you doing all right?"

Dante jumped unintentionally and whirled to face Robin. The doctor smiled gently. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you jump." When Dante didn't speak, Robin frowned. "Dante?"

"Sonny was talking." Dante stumbled over the words. "About…about before I was around here. About you and…" For a moment, Dante hesitated. Then, choosing his words carefully, he continued: "Sonny was telling me about Stone."

Robin's mouth formed a perfect "O"; pain and grief flashed over her face before she finally settled on sympathy. "Is he all right?"

"Who, Sonny?" With a shrug, Dante ran a hand over his face. "I don't really know. I heard him talking to Morgan about how he hadn't 'named him wrong', so I asked who Morgan was named for. I mean, 'Morgan', obviously, 'Jason Morgan', but I didn't know Morgan's middle name meant _anything_. I didn't know…How was I supposed to know?"

_"Stone had AIDS…He never meant to give it to her…"_

Realization dawned on Robin's face. Then, she reached for Dante's hand. "Come with me."

"Morgan—"

"Sonny's with him, and—look." Dante turned in time to see an all-too familiar form slip into Morgan's room. "Jason's with Sonny. They'll watch over Morgan."

Before Dante had a chance to protest, Robin tugged him into the elevator. By the time he found his voice, the doors had closed and they were traveling ever so slowly upwards. "Where are we-?"

"You'll see." For the first time, Dante had a chance to study Robin. She was petite and (Dante quickly stifled the thought) sort of pretty. Mostly, though, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the pale cast of her face.

After a moment, Robin took note of his critical gaze and shrugged slightly. "Some days," she said simply, "are better than others."

Then the elevator doors slid open, and Dante was staring into the eyes of a man who'd been dead for almost fifteen years. "Oh…"

The photos hanging on the wall were huge; they were more of banners than anything, and all the people in the photos were life-size. The man in the middle photo with the long, dark hair had to be Stone. For one, the lettering above the banner proclaimed "Stone Cates Memorial AIDS Wing." It was more than that, though…

"This one," Robin said quietly. Once again, she took hold of Dante's hand and tugged him over to another banner. There was Stone again, sitting in some overstuffed chair, except his hair was now brutally short. His eyes were _unfocused_—Dante struggled to remember from sophomore Health class whether AIDS could make you go blind or not—but Stone was somehow managing to grin right at the camera. There was a slip of a girl sitting on the arm of the chair with her arms wrapped tightly around him—Robin, Dante realized as he glanced between the oversized photo and the doctor standing beside him.

It was the man kneeling beside Stone that caught Dante's attention, though. It was Sonny, Sonny at Dante's age looking so much like his oldest son; the trademark dimples were conspicuously absent as, for once, Sonny wasn't smiling. Robin and Stone were grinning so hard that they might have been laughing at a long-forgotten joke, but the corners of Sonny's lips were barely turned upward. He was holding Stone's hand against his heart.

"I never understood why Stone hung around Sonny so much. I mean, Stone had so much potential, and he was living with a mobster!" Robin shook her head. "Then, when Stone got AIDS, Sonny took such good care of him. He was so worried and so frustrated because he couldn't do anything to help Stone, and then when we found out that I was HIV positive…Mac told me, one time, that when he told Sonny I was HIV positive, Sonny just crumpled."

_"He never meant to hurt her. He loved her so_ damn_ much, he made me promise to take care of her when he was gone and _hell_, did I ever fail!"_

Dante rubbed his forehead. "Sonny said something about failing you or something?"

At that, Robin's eyes flashed. "He did not fail me! He promised Stone that he'd take care of me. I'd be the first person to admit that I haven't always made that easy! Listen, I've definitely been on the 'Hate Sonny' bandwagon before, but then I remember then." She gestured towards the banner where Robin, Stone, and Sonny were forever frozen together. "I remember the time Sonny threw together an early Christmas when we knew Stone wasn't going to make it to the real thing and how he invited everyone Stone was close to, even if they weren't Sonny's favorite people. I remember when Stone died, and I came upstairs to find Sonny curled up against Stone, crying so hard. I remember our family because—we _were_ a family because of Stone. He brought us all together."

_"Stone told me he wanted to go out laughing, and that he wanted to be at home, not in some sterile hospital bed. He wanted to__—_relish_what time he had left with us…"_

_"If I could have just traded places with Stone, man—"_

"He would've."

Robin frowned at Dante, but he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Instead, he was gazing intently at the face of a murderer who, suddenly, didn't seem so evil at all.

_"Don't do it, Sonny, he's your son. Sonny, he's your SON!"_

_ "He was my _brother!_"_

_ "Dante's my _brother?"

_"Stone, _God_, Morgan…"_

"I got to go." Without a backwards glance, Dante dashed down the staircase to the third floor. Robin watched him go with her mouth hanging open in surprise; then, with a sigh, she reached out and stroked Stone's cheek.

* * *

The smell of incense in the hospital's chapel immediately calmed Dante. It was the scent of a childhood spent in cavernous churches filled with adoring masses; it was the scent of rosaries and belief and home. Without thinking, Dante headed straight for the votive candles and reached for a stick to light them with.

"Our Father, who art…oh, hell, forget this," he breathed. "God, you know I don't like the formulas of prayers. I figure you get at least as bored with them as I do. Not that Ma's rosaries don't do any good, I mean, I'm living proof of their power, but I don't want to go through the motions. I want to be able to talk to you, one-on-one, and I guess all the set prayers make me feel trapped and awkward.

"Now, this candle, this one is for my—my little brother. Something real bad happened to him. He was in a car crash, and his stepfather died—though I guess you already know that, don't you? God, Morgan's so good. He's such a curious little kid, always exploring, always asking questions. He's so much like me at that age." Dante smiled faintly. "Maybe that's why I tend to favor him."

Dante was about to go sit in one of the pews when he turned back to look at the one lonely candle._ "I couldn't—God, I couldn't change this! The fact that I couldn't bully it into being my way, buy it out, was—was killing me, still is! What's the point of all this power, money, y'know, if it can't save—Morgan, can't stop what happened to him, and Stone, I couldn't—if I could have just—"_

_ "He brought us all together."  
_

_"He was my brother…"  
_

"All right." Carefully, so as not to burn himself, Dante lit another white candle. "This is for Stone. I didn't know him, but I know he was really brave and a good guy, and he meant a lot to so many people. Stone, if you can hear me…" Dante bit his lip. "Please watch over my brother."

"Dante?"

"Ma!" Dante sprang to his feet in shock. "What're you doing here?"

Olivia sighed and pulled him into a hug. "Checking in on you. What else? I brought you some lasagna if you're hungry."

After a moment's thought, Dante shrugged. "No, not really."

"Okay, now I'm worried." Dante collapsed onto one of the pews; Olivia sat beside him and took one of his hands. "What's bothering you? Don't just say Morgan because I know it's more than that. Mothers can always tell."

Dante rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're right," he grumbled. "Sonny…was telling me about Stone Cates. You know who that is?"

Olivia frowned. "I've heard of him. Is he the one the AIDS wing upstairs is named for?"

Dante nodded. "Yeah. He was Sonny's best friend. They were like brothers, so close, and then Stone died, and there was nothing Sonny could do about it. It just about drove him insane. He said to me that all his money and all his power couldn't do anything to help Stone or Morgan, that—Ma, I've never heard him like that. He broke down!"

"It sounds horrible."

"It was terrifying! This guy died of a terrible disease, and worse, he died knowing that he gave it to the girl he loved!" Dante sprang to his feet in frustration. "Sonny feels like he failed Stone by not taking care of him enough and by not taking care of Robin enough. Sonny would have died if he thought it would make Stone live longer. He would have _died…"_ Dante's voice trailed off hopelessly. "I'm sure he would die for Morgan, too, and now I don't know how to feel about him. He shot me! He killed the closest person I had to a father! By all rights I should hate Sonny."

"But?" Olivia rubbed his hand between hers. Dante shrugged hopelessly.

"I—"

Suddenly, a flash of movement made Dante whirl back towards the candles. No one was there, but the tiny flames on the candles suddenly began to flicker and dance as though they were being blown on like birthday candles. Dante frowned and looked around, but the air vent was on the other side of the room. _What the—_

Stone's flame flickered—and went out.

Behind Dante, Olivia whispered, "Oh, my God…" Dante's heart was pounding in his chest as Morgan's flame flickered and spit. _Stone, if you can hear me…_The flame grew brighter for an instant…_please watch over my brother…_and then went out.

Olivia shrieked this time, but Dante ignored her. With a cry, he barreled out the door and down the hall to Morgan's room, where the heart monitor let out a single continuous beep like the scream of someone whose heart is breaking.


	8. Take Me Or Leave Me

"MORGAN!"

"No!"

_"NO!"_

_"My baby—"_

"He's my _son_! Let me see him! _Let me see my son!"_

The screams that were mingling with the heart monitor's piercing beep propelled Dante down the hallway. Halfway there, he mowed over Epiphany without a backwards glance; she reached for his arm as he barreled past her but missed. "Don't go down there!"

One of the doctors—Steve—and a horde of nurses had thundered into Morgan's room. Dante could hear them yelling something about shocks and compressions, but he couldn't see what was happening through the crowd that was blocking Morgan's doorway. Dante cursed violently—and then was almost knocked over as a dark blur flew past him. "Morgan!"

"Sonny, _no!" _Jason dropped his hold on Carly and tried to grab Sonny instead. "Sonny, that's not going to help Morgan!"

"Let me see him! Let me see my son!" Sonny was writhing frantically in Jason's grip; the mob enforcer could barely keep a hold on his boss. "_Let me SEE MORGAN!"_

"Sonny, stop it!" Instinctively, Dante sprang forward and pinned Sonny's arms behind his back. Sonny lurched forward and clipped Jason's jaw in the process. "Sonny, stop!"

All of them jumped at the thump of the defibrillator shocking Morgan. Sonny cussed and lurched forward again with a cry. "Morgan!"

"You're not helping Morgan—"

"Morgan, _Morgan_!"

"Stop—"

_Thump._

"_Morgan_!"

_Thump._

"Sonny, stop it!"

_Thump._

_ "The fact that I couldn't bully it into being my way, buy it out—"_

"MORGAN!"

"Sonny! STOP IT!"

_Thump._

"No, Morgan!"

_"What's the point of all this power, money, y'know, if it can't save—"_

"Morgan! MORGAN!"

_Thump._

_"If I could have just traded places with Stone, man—"_

"Sonny, stop—" Jason fell backwards as Sonny's fist connected with his nose. Now it was just Dante clinging to Sonny's back as the mobster tried to fight his way to his dying son.

_"Mor—"_

"DAD, STOP IT!"

Sonny froze as the words spilled out of Dante's mouth. The sound of the defibrillator seemed to dim in the background as Dante, panting, turned his father to face him. He wasn't sure why he'd just said _that, _but since it had had an effect… "Dad, you're not helping Morgan! Stop! You have to stop."

For a moment, Sonny stared at Dante. Then, he crumpled against his oldest son with a gasp. "God, God, _God_…I want to see Morgan. I want to see…I want to see…Morgan, _God_, Dante…Morgan!"

Dante's eyes widened as Sonny clung to him like a drowning man clings to a lifesaver. Suddenly, he could feel something wet trickling down his neck and realized it was Sonny's tears. _I wasn't…um…what do I do now? _"Hey…hey…um, Sonny, shh. Shh." Slowly, unsure of what he was actually doing, Dante brought one arm to Sonny's back and patted awkwardly. "All right…all right…"

"He can't die…_nothing I can do_…what's the point?" It was moaned straight into Dante's ear. The pain in Sonny's voice shot straight to Dante's heart and tightened the band around it even more. Sonny was sobbing; Carly was sobbing; Lulu was sobbing. Even tough guy Jason looked ready to break down. Dante gritted his teeth and forced his own tears back. _I will not cry. Morgan needs me to be strong. I will not cry._

"I know." Dante's voice cracked as he murmured it in Sonny's ear. "I know."

Suddenly, there was a different sound. Dante and Jason's heads snapped up as the single beep was suddenly broken into separate noises. For a moment, their eyes met in mutual wonder. Then, Jason's legs gave out, and he sank against the wall with a groan. "Oh, my God…"

With a grunt, Dante forced Sonny's head off his shoulder. "Sonny. Listen. Hear that? Know what that means?"

It took a moment for Dante's words to sink into Sonny's grief-riddled mind. Then, his dark eyes grew wide. "He's—is he-?"

"Morgan's alive," Steve called from inside Morgan's room. "He made it."

Carly stumbled to the ground beside Jason and burst into tears. "Thank God, thank God…"

After a second, Sonny slumped against Dante with a sigh. Dante tried not to pull a face and staggered over to the chairs, where he and Sonny collapsed in a heap. Lulu darted over and curled onto Dante's lap. "Oh, my God, Dante, I was so afraid…" Then, with a frown, she hissed in his ear, "Are you and Sonny…what?"

Dante shrugged and glanced over at his father, who, with a tight grip on Dante's shoulder, was struggling against more tears. "Good question, babe," Dante whispered. "Good question."

"Lulu!"

Lulu's head snapped up. They had fallen asleep where they were, everyone except Dante, whose mind had still been too full of half-formed ideas to sleep. No one had been in to see Morgan yet, though Steve _and _Patrick _and _Robin _and _Lisa had all been around to reassure them that not only was Morgan's heart beating, it was also much stronger than it had been upon Morgan's admission to General Hospital. All of them except Robin had shrugged and pinned it on some kind of medical term or another; Dante's mind had immediately flashed back to the candles in the chapel and his half-formed prayer. Well, his mother would pin it on that…

"Ethan, what are you doing here?" Lulu sprang off of Dante's lap and wrapped a surprised arm around her brother. Ethan, for his part, shrugged embarrassedly and waved over her shoulder at Dante.

"Luke sent me to check on you. He thinks you haven't been eating, and I have to admit that it looks like he was right. Now, I'm supposed to make sure you eat every single bite of this sandwich before I leave." He gestured to the Subway bag he was carrying. Lulu and Dante both frowned.

"Where did you find a Subway that was open this late…early?"

The Aussie looked ever-so-slightly shifty as he glanced away from Dante. "Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies. Dante, can—I mean, may I borrow my sister for a minute? It's for a good cause."

Dante nodded. "Go ahead," he said softly. Sonny was fast asleep with his head against Dante's arm, despite Dante's earlier attempts to move him, and the cop was in no hurry to wake his father up.

Ethan raised an eyebrow and glanced between the two meaningfully. "So, have you two made up or something?"

"Eh," Dante shrugged, "I wouldn't go _that_ far. We're…working on it."

Ethan grinned. "'Working on it' is a start, mate, and from my experience, at least being able to tolerate your father is worth it in the long run."

Dante nodded and plastered a cheap smile on his face as Ethan dragged Lulu down the hall to the cafeteria. As soon as his girlfriend and her brother were out of sight, though, he let the grin slip off his face, and his pensive look returned. "All I want right now is for Morgan to wake up," he murmured.

"Me, too." With a stifled yelp, Dante jerked away from Sonny, who grimaced and held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

Dante rubbed his head. "Yeah, well, it's okay. Um…" The two men sat in awkward silence for a long few mintues. Then Sonny cleared his throat.

"D'you think they'll let us see him yet?"

"I don't know. I could go check—"

"Wait." Sonny reached out a hand tentatively to block Dante's way. Slowly, Dante sat back down. "There's something I got to know."

Dante ran a hand over his eyes tiredly. "Okay. What?"

"The first time you called me 'Dad', when you were in the hospital," Sonny said slowly, "you were being sarcastic. What about this time? I got to know."

After a moment's hesitation, Dante shrugged. "Serious. It doesn't mean I—all right, at first I hated you. I hated your guts, right? Then, I got to know you when you were my boss, and I really liked that you respected me. Then, you shot me, and all my respect for you went out the window."

Sonny nodded. "Yeah, but what about now?"

Dante sighed. "Well…I respect what you did for Stone. I also know you'd change places with Morgan in a heartbeat."

Instantly, Sonny snorted. "God knows I wouldn't have the guts. Anyway, you'd do the same thing, right?"

Dante gave him a long stare. "He's my _brother_."

"All right, I understand that, but you're still not answering my question!" Sonny's face twisted; Dante realized that what he used to think was a look of rage was actually a mix of impatience and fear. "What were you thinking when you called me 'Dad'?"

"That's who you are, right?" Dante squared his jaw off defiantly. "No matter how much I fight it, I can't change the fact that we're related, and y'know what?" Once again, Dante was speaking without thinking as words spilled out of his mouth. "Maybe I'm okay with that. Don't get me wrong: you can still be a cold-eyed bastard when you want to be. You had the one man I looked up to _murdered_," Dante's voice shook, "and I can never forget that, Sonny. Maybe a better man would forgive, but I can never, never forget.

"But…you're also fiercely loyal to the people you love. You'd do anything for Michael, for Morgan, for Kristina, for me! You would have died for Stone, and that's something—someone—I can respect.

"Sonny Corinthos, the mobster?" Dante shook his head. "That part of you is someone I'll never claim as my father. Sonny, Stone's brother? Morgan's dad? The one who brought some kid in off the streets and gave him the best life you could?" Dante shrugged; then, he met Sonny's gaze with a ghost of a smile. "I think I could live with calling Stone's brother my dad."

Sonny stared at Dante for a long moment. Then, he fell back against his chair with a long sigh. "Man! Man. Um…All right. I'll buy that. I'll buy that. I'll take what I can get!" When Dante didn't speak again, Sonny rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "Uh…you want to see if they'll let us in your brother's room now?"

Dante shook himself and climbed to his feet. "Yeah, uh, sure. Be right back." As he jogged over to the nurses' station, Robin poked her head out of Morgan's room and motioned to him. When he flashed her a apprehensive look, she smiled tiredly and called,

"Come on, Dante, Sonny. Stop worrying and come visit Morgan."


	9. I'll Cover You

…and we're back to Sonny's point of view since I've had so much trouble writing from Dante's.

* * *

"Stop—stop worrying?" Sonny scrambled to his feet at Robin's words. "Does that—Morgan's okay? He's about to wake up?"

Robin hesitated. "Patrick didn't want me to get your hopes up…" Her voice trailed off, but at the miserable looks she was getting from both Sonny and Dante, she rolled her eyes and acquiesced, "but as far as we can tell from his vital signs and brain scans, yes, Morgan is very close to waking up."

At this, Sonny staggered into Dante with a sigh. _Oh, God… _Dante jumped slightly and then patted his father's back awkwardly. Sonny struggled not to smirk at the self-conscious look on his oldest son's face. "He's going to be all right. Y'know, I always know I'm doing the right thing when I sign all the school forms and things that say my kids are supposed to go to General Hospital if something's wrong. Y'know why? Because Michael was in here, in a coma, so was Dante, and they both woke up, and now Morgan's going to wake up. It's all thanks to the brilliant doctors here, you and Patrick. Robin, I'm really starting to think you can do no wrong when it comes to saving my kids!"

Robin shrugged with a smile. "Well, I've always had help." Sonny frowned as she yawned exhaustedly; for the first time, he noticed the dark circles like bruises under her eyes.

"Hey." Sonny reached out a worried hand towards his friend. "When was the last time you slept, Robin? You got to take care of yourself. Otherwise Stone'll come down here," he muttered as he pulled the slip of a woman into a hug, "and kick my ass, d'you realize that?"

"No, he won't, Sonny." When Robin pulled back, her face was serious. "You haven't failed your promise yet," she said softly. Then, after a pat to Sonny's cheek, she slipped down the hall to check on another patient.

"Haven't…haven't—" Sonny rubbed his cheek absentmindedly.

_"You make sure for me that Robin's going to be okay. You take care of her…"_

_"… he made me promise to take care of her when he was gone and _hell_, did I ever fail!"_

Sonny shook the memories off and tried to wipe away a stray tear. Dante, he noticed, was watching him with a mixture of apprehension and sympathy.

"_You haven't failed your promise yet."  
_

"Wait. You—" Sonny turned to Dante. "Did—you went and talked to Robin about Stone, didn't you?"

After a moment, Dante nodded slowly. "Yeah, guilty as charged," he mumbled without looking at Sonny. "I had to work some things out in my mind and the only person who could explain them to me was Robin. For the record, she came to me."

"Hey, hey, I'm not criticizing you, am I?" Sonny managed to catch Dante's reluctant gaze, and he tried to smile encouragingly. "You had to—work things out, I understand that! I understand wanting answers that you don't have."

Dante nodded again. "Well," he said, "I figured Robin would be pretty objective since Mac is her uncle." Sonny snorted, then flashed Dante a remotely apologetic glance. "Anyway, uh, Morgan—"

"Yeah." Sonny hesitated; then, shoulder-to-shoulder, he and Dante tiptoed into Morgan's room.

Suddenly, at the sight of Morgan, the walls started to close in on Sonny. Morgan wasn't moving; he was barely breathing. What if he was—was he—_God, don't let him be dead-!  
_

"Hey. _Hey. _Dad!" Dante's voice jolted Sonny out of his panic; panting, Sonny collapsed into the chair by Morgan's bed. "He's okay, Dad. Morgan's going to wake up. He's going to be okay. There's somebody up there rooting for him, all right?" When Sonny didn't reply, Dante continued: "I thought you said Robin and Patrick were the best since they saved both Michael and me…or was that all just talk?"

At this, Sonny shook his head violently. "No, no, I meant what I said. I just—" He caught his breath, finally, and struggled to find words to explain. "Sometimes, when I'm real worried about something, I'll get myself so worked up about it that I'll convince myself—" He stopped again as Dante's words hit him. "Wait. Back up. What was that about somebody up there rooting for Morgan?"

Dante froze. "Nothing."

Sonny snorted. "Ah, come on, now you have to tell me! You can't just leave me hanging like that! What do you know that I don't?"

"A lot," Dante muttered darkly. Then, in a change of moods as swift as any of his father's, his glare melted away and was replaced by a pensive look. "Well, anyway, I might as well tell you. I got to warn you: this is going to sound crazy."

"Hey, let me be the judge of that." After a moment, Dante nodded and looked away from Sonny until his gaze rested on the unconscious Morgan. Sonny noticed the way the cop's face soften as he watched his little brother struggle for life; he had to look away as Dante's eyes finally filled with tears. _"You know I always told you I wanted a brother?"_

"So, um…" Dante's voice was strained as he began to speak. "After I talked to Robin, I still needed to clear my head, so I went to the chapel and lit candles for Morgan…and Stone."

_Wha—Stone, too? _Before Sonny could do anything more than lean forward with a frown, Dante spoke again. "I don't know. I decided, when I was lighting Stone's candle, to ask him to keep an eye on Morgan. Then Mom came in and we starting talking…" With a sigh, Dante reached a gentle hand out to brush Morgan's hair away from his forehead. Sonny swallowed the lump in his throat with some effort.

"Anyway, I heard this—this noise or something, right, and I looked up." Dante still wasn't meeting Sonny's eyes. "The flames on Morgan and Stone's candles were flickering—y'know, the way candles will when you blow on them, but nobody was there. I thought it might be the AC, but the vent was all the way on the other side of the room. Then—Stone's candle went out. Just like that," Dante added with a snap. "I had this feeling…and then," he snapped again, causing Sonny to jump, "Morgan's candle went out, too, and I just _knew_, Dad." Finally, Dante met Sonny's stunned gaze. "I swear, Stone warned me about Morgan right before his heart—y'know."

The band around Sonny's heart clenched painfully. "Wha…"

Dante snorted. "Yeah, I knew you wouldn't believe me. Even I have to admit it sounds crazy."

"No!" Sonny shook his head. "Not any crazier than…"

_"He's dead? He's dead." "He's shot! I need help!"_

_ "If I had a son, I would __never __turn my back on him!" "Sonny, he's your son! You just shot your own son!"_

_ "Sure, as long as you tell me it's nothin' serious." "…it's Morgan…an accident…"_

"No." Suddenly, Sonny's voice was as hoarse as his son's. "I believe you, man. He's warned me, too."

Dante was about to snap something sarcastic when his father spoke. "I…what? How?" When his father didn't reply, Dante reached out cautiously and shook Sonny's shoulder. "Hey, Sonny! Dad! What's up?"

Sonny had been fighting the lump in his throat again. After a second, Sonny finally said, "Every time…Okay. The night before Michael got shot, I had a dream about when Stone died, and then I woke up and Michael got shot, right? Then, the night before—before I—" When words failed him, Sonny reached out one hand and brushed tentative fingertips over the place on Dante's chest where the bullet went in. "I thought Stone was upstairs, and I was saying something about…about Stone's parents not taking care of him, about…if I had a son, I would never turn my back on him. Except," he whispered, "_I did_!" He waited, but, to his surprise, Dante didn't have any caustic comments for him. "The same thing happened with—y'know, with—with Morgan, and you'd think by now I'd have it all worked out! Damn, damn, _dammit_, Stone, what's the point of warning me if I can't do anything—_anything_—"

The walls were closing in; his heart was working overtime. Surely Morgan was dying in that bed, and he couldn't do a damn thing—couldn't save—_why, Stone, why? _Suddenly, there was the tiniest pressure against his hand. "Dad? Listen, I don't have any answers, and I really doubt Stone does either—it doesn't sound like he ever did, except maybe one."

Sonny couldn't figure out how to form the word "What?", but the miserable glance he shot Dante seemed to ask it for him.

Dante's eyes held a strange mixture of exasperation, uncertainty, and compassion. "Robin said something about Stone: he—brought everyone together. Maybe—maybe that's what we're supposed to be learning from this! I don't know. It's the only _lesson_ I can get out of—Morgan, Stone...isn't that what they both did—do? I mean, hell," Dante gave one of his humorless laughs, "I'm _talking_ to you, trying to _help_ you! That's pretty big leap from just a few _hours_ ago, right?"

Dante's hand was warm and calloused; Sonny could tell that it was the same size as his. For a brief, painful instant, he imagined a toddler's hand there instead, holding on tight as they crossed 86th Street in Bensonhurst. Then Dante's words sank in, and he let the fantasy slip away. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I didn't mean to—"

"Be a wet blanket? Yeah, I know." Finally, Sonny met Dante's eyes again to find a glint of laughter there. "What was that you were telling Molly earlier? Something about talking to Morgan making him wake up faster?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sonny's dimples came back for a moment. Dante gave a wry grin in return and pulled his hand away, but not before Sonny had given it a squeeze of silent thanks. "Yeah, I was trying get that to work two ways, y'know? Keep Molly from worrying and get Morgan out of this coma. I don't think it really turned out the way I wanted it to, though," Sonny admitted dryly.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, Dad, that's because you're not trying hard enough! C'mon, if Molly's spiel about Science Camp isn't working, I guess we'll have to resort to bribery."

With the smile still playing across his face, Sonny laced his fingers through Morgan's. "I don't know, Dante. What kind of bribery are you thinking of?"

"Hey, don't ask me! You're the master of manipulation, here."

"Oh, oh, I see how it is," Sonny teased. "You're pushing all the dirty work off on me so you won't get implicated, is that right?"

After a moment of thought, Dante shrugged. "Sounds good to me! No, seriously, okay, what would convince Morgan to jump out of bed right this second?"

Sonny tilted his head back and considered this. "Something to do with the Yankees, or baseball in general, and you and Michael and I have to be in on it, too…"

"Well, you already promised him a Yankees game," Dante pointed out. Sonny sighed.

"Yeah, I know that! Uh…oh, got a good one. Okay, how about this: Morgan, if you wake up—"

"—when!" Dante corrected tersely. Sonny grimaced.

"—when, yeah. Sorry, buddy, I don't mean to sound so pessimistic!" Sonny squeezed Morgan's limp hand reassuringly. "When you wake up, I will take you to the World Series with me. Dante and Michael, too, and…well, I don't know if the girls are that into baseball, know what I mean? I don't want them to be bored and miserable."

Dante shrugged. "If you bring both of them, they could entertain each other."

Sonny nodded. "True. All right, this is it: Morgan, when you wake up, me, you, and all your siblings plus Molly are going to the World Series regardless—_regardless—_of whether the Yankees are playing or not."

"Which they will be," Dante grumbled. "They _better_ be!"

"You boys and your Yankees! My God!" Both men jumped at the sound of Lulu's voice. She and Ethan were standing in the doorway with similar expressions of confusion on their faces.

"Ethan, do you understand their obsession with baseball?"

Ethan, who looked quite alarmed at being asked, shrugged helplessly. "Eh, I wouldn't be the best one to ask, mate. I'm from Australia, remember? Now, cricket is another story."

Dante frowned. "Oh, yeah, isn't that the sport that's exactly like baseball?"

"Not exactly…" This time, Ethan's panicked look was directed at Sonny. The mobster smirked; _You're beyond help, man! _At this, Ethan muttered something about helping Luke at the Haunted Star and beat a hasty retreat, leaving Lulu, Dante, and Sonny chuckling behind him.

After a moment, Lulu's face turned serious. Sonny watched with interest as she and Dante stared at each other and seemed to use some sort of silent communication consisting of raised eyebrows, jerks of heads, and muted gasps. Finally, Dante caught Lulu's arms and pulled her into a kiss. Sonny wanted to look away, but the irritating thought that hadn't Lulu been a baby just yesterday wouldn't let him.

It seemed to Sonny that Dante and Lulu should have at least come up for air a long time ago, but of course they hadn't. The awkward feeling in the pit of his stomach only got worse when Olivia appeared on the other side of the doorway. She was holding a plastic container of what smelled like tortellini and wearing a mild expression of surprise similar to the one on Sonny's face.

Sonny flashed a cheap smile at Olivia. "Can I have some of that?" he mouthed at Olivia as he gestured towards the tortellini. She shook her head furiously and pointed at Dante. Sonny shrugged and let the smile slip away with a groan. "Worth a try!"

At first, the soft coughing didn't even register in Sonny's sleep-deprived brain. It was only when Morgan's hand—the small, limp, pale hand that rested inside his father's grip—twitched that Sonny turned to face his youngest son—

-whose dark eyes were staring straight back at him.

"Dad? Dante?"

"Morg—"

_"Morgan!"_

The band around Sonny's heart snapped, and the walls stopped closing in. Morgan was _alive_; he was _awake_; _he was going to be all right!_

"Dad? Dante?" Morgan asked again, and then the arms of his father and brother wrapped around him as they both succumbed to tears.

* * *

We might be back to Dante next chapter. We're getting close to the end!

Now _I _want tortellini, darn it!


	10. What You Own

Dante's POV

* * *

Now, Dante's tears were running down Morgan's neck the way Sonny's tears had run down Dante's earlier. He hadn't meant to break down; hell, it would probably do more harm than good to Morgan—but somehow, the enormous relief he had felt when Morgan said his name not once, but twice, made his tear ducts work on their own agenda. Sonny's voice floated to mind: _"You never know what's going to happen next!", _and Dante gave a watery chuckle.

"What?" Morgan whispered. Dante and Sonny released him simultaneously, which allowed Morgan to shoot his older brother a quizzical, albeit slightly unfocused, look. Dante shrugged with a slight smile and then shook his head. For a moment, Morgan looked ready to protest. Then, some thought or memory made his face crumple. "Jax…is Jax really…?" He turned his pleading gaze on Sonny, but Sonny nodded reluctantly with a pained glance at his older son.

"It's all my fault! I didn't mean for it to happen! I made him take me to the boat even though Mom said no! I didn't know—I didn't mean for Jax to—" Morgan's wails were punctuated with helpless sobs. Dante reached out to pull his little brother into a hug, but their father beat him to it. Sonny cradled Morgan in his arms and brushed kiss after kiss onto Morgan's forehead. The gentle words Sonny whispered to Morgan reminded Dante of Olivia's lullabies when he was a baby, and Dante realized that maybe he wasn't needed here right now.

After rubbing Morgan's back one more time and squeezing Sonny's shoulder, Dante climbed to his feet shakily and slipped out of the room. His mother and his girlfriend were both waiting there anxiously. Dante managed to croak, "He's awake," before his tears spilled over again. Olivia gasped and pulled him into a tight embrace; for the first time in years, Dante found himself crying into his mother's shoulder. As usual, Olivia didn't complain. She just rubbed her son's back and murmured the same gentle words that Sonny had been using to hush Morgan.

After a moment, Dante lifted his head and tried to scrub his tears away. Olivia smiled and caught a stray one with her thumb. "He'll be okay. Will you?"

Dante considered this for a moment. He was exhausted beyond sleep, it felt like someone was using a jackhammer on his head, and crying had made him inordinately sick and shaky. At the moment, no, he didn't feel as though he would ever be okay again.

Then again…the memory of wrapping his hand around Sonny's resurfaced. For some reason, as he had done it, his mind had conjured an impossible fantasy of himself at four, clinging to his father's hand as they crossed the street to the park in Bensonhurst. Something inexplicable had changed between himself and his father; somehow, Morgan's coma and Stone had made Dante finally understand Sonny in a way that nothing else had.

_"He was my _brother_!"_

The thought of Sonny's ravaged face as he recounted Stone's death, melded with the image of Morgan trapped in a hospital bed, made Dante shiver imperceptibly. Oh, yeah, he and Sonny had reached an understanding.

"Dante?"

His mother's troubled voice snapped Dante back to reality. Belatedly, he realized that she had posed a question. After a moment, he shrugged and flashed a cheap smile at Olivia. "Maybe. Yeah, I'll be okay. Hey, listen, I should probably go tell Carly and Michael that Morgan's awake."

Lulu gasped and grabbed Dante's hand. "Oh, my God, I am such an idiot! I'm terrible! Why didn't I think of that—ugh! Come on."

"It's okay, babe, you're not an idiot," Dante protested as he nearly had his arm ripped out of its socket. "Relax, Lulu! Everything will be okay now."

At this, Lulu whirled to face him. Dante almost took a step back at the fire in Lulu's blue eyes. "How?" she demanded. "How do you know?"

Dante shrugged helplessly. "A guy can hope, right? Come on, there's no point in worrying."

"But Morgan—"

"Hey." Dante laid one finger against Lulu's lips. "I didn't say there wasn't _anything_ to worry about. I said that there's no _point_ in worrying. It's not going to help Morgan or Carly, right?"

"Right. I'm sorry. I just—"

"You don't have to apologize." Dante leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss against Lulu's lips. For a moment, they stood there in the hallway with their foreheads barely touching. Dante felt intoxicated, dizzy from even the quick kiss they had shared, and he just wanted to stand there with Lulu forever. Then he thought of Morgan and Carly and, inexplicably, Sonny, and knew he had a duty to them first. "Where's Carly?"

Lulu made a wistful sort of sigh. "Down this way. Jason's with her." Dante nodded and let the girl he loved lead him down the hall.

"Be careful," Lulu warned as she paused just outside the door to another hospital room. "Carly is really…well…just be careful what you say."

Dante frowned in bewilderment. "Of course. What did you think...uh, Lu—"

The door swung open, and suddenly Jason was staring down at both of them with unreadable blue eyes. Instinctively, Dante's spine straightened under the incomprehensible gaze. _Why the hell can't he show emotions for once in his life? At least for Morgan's sake—_

"What happened? Is Morgan okay?" Suddenly, Dante was being shaken none-too-gently by a panicked Jason. Jason's voice was hoarse with trepidation as he growled, "Tell me, Dante!"

_"Listen, I named you for the two bravest guys I know: Jason and—and Stone…"_

_ Even Jason's scared. Damn, damn, who would've thought—he's scared! _

Dante shook off the unnerving thought and met Jason's terrified gaze. "Morgan woke up."

"Wha—he's—are you sure?"

"Positive. I was there. He's talking and everything."

Slowly, Jason loosened his grip on Dante's shirt. The cop took a relieved step back. "He's going to be okay? Oh…that's…that's…" The enforcer's face was relaxing into some form of wonder. "Carly. _Carly!" _

The blonde jerked awake and vaulted out of the hospital bed. "Jase, what?" she demanded. "What happened, Jason?"

Jason stumbled to Carly and gazed down at her. For a moment, he simply stood there, shaking, seemingly unable to form any coherent thoughts. Then, as Carly's stare became more and more alarmed, a grin broke over Jason's face. "He's awake. Morgan woke up."

Carly's mouth dropped open. "Oh, my—my baby, Morgan, oh my God, Jason!"

"I know!" Jason's smile grew even wider as Carly threw her arms around him. Both of them rocked together for a moment, half-laughing, half-crying; then, Carly pulled back with a frown.

"Who's with him?"

"Dad." The word fell from Dante's lips before he even realized he was speaking. Carly whirled to face him; her frown deepened by the second. "Morgan already knows about Jax, Carly. It's the first thing he asked about when he woke up."

Carly's face twisted. "And you _told _him?"

As Carly glared, Dante shot Lulu a confused glance. "Ah—he already knew, Carly. Sonny and I didn't _tell_ Morgan anything." When Carly's eyes flashed dangerous, Dante quickly added, "Listen, when I woke up in the hospital, all I wanted was my mom…"

That was all it took for Carly to fly out the door without as much as a backwards glance at Dante. After a split second's indecision, Lulu made an impatient sound under her breath and darted after her cousin, leaving Dante and Jason alone in the blank white room. Dante ran a hand through his hair with a shaky sigh. _That did _not_ go according to plan._

"Dante." Jason's voice was rough; he ran a hand over his eyes and tried again. "What would you do for Morgan?"

The question was so out of left field that Dante literally jumped. With a frown, he turned to face Jason again. The mobster's face had an unusually earnest cast to it. "Ah—anything. Wha—what the hell-"

"Die? Kill?" When Dante nodded bemusedly, Jason sighed and sat down in a free chair. "Carly just lost custody of all her kids."

Dante's eyes widened. "Wha—_why_? Because of her breakdown?" When Jason nodded, Dante collapsed onto the edge of the hospital bed. "But—Jax is dead. Sonny gave up his rights. What—you got custody of them now?"

"No!" The word was edged with fear. Jason cracked his knuckles and shook his head emphatically. "My life was my choice, Dante, but it's not something I would choose for anyone else, especially not the kids! They'd be in danger every minute with me. I can't do that to them."

Dante found himself shaking his head. "Then where will Morgan go? What about Josslyn? They can't—They'll get shoved into foster care!" _"…he ended up in the system…on the streets…" _"You can't think that's better than them living with you. Hell, even I don't think that!"

"My life—Sonny's life—Michael paid for it with a year of his life!"

"Uncle Stone was in the system, and he paid for it with his _whole _life!" Suddenly, Dante was on his feet. Rage was making adrenaline pour through his system; he was shaking with fury as he hadn't shaken in ages, not since he had punched his father months ago. "I can't let my brother go!"

"Then don't." Jason was eerily calm, though Dante noticed his hands were balled into fists. "Dante, you know what you have to do."

_"He's my_ brother_." _

Then Dante realized he _did _know what he had to do. It made his legs go weak and his palms sweat. "I could—I'll take care of him. I'll take care of _both _of them." Shakily, he swallowed back his fear and collapsed onto the side of the bed again.

Jason's sapphire eyes were wide with surprise. "Both of them? Morgan and Josslyn?"

_Hell, why not? _"Morgan's my _brother. _It's the least I can do for him! If he moves in with me—Michael's already crashing at my place—why can't their baby sister live with me, too? Lulu's her godmother, right? It's all legal."

For a moment, Jason seemed frozen in his own disbelief. Then, with a sigh of relief, the enforcer relaxed. "Thank you. Thank you."

Dante snorted. "Yeah, well, I'm doing it for Morgan, not for you."

The words seemed to remind Jason of something. He sat up straight with a frown. "When we were trying to calm Sonny down yesterday, you called him 'Dad'. You said it again when you were talking to Carly." When Dante nodded slowly, Jason continued: "You finally gave up hating him?"

"I guess so. Why do _you_ care, other than the fact he's your boss?"

Jason opened his mouth to explain, closed it, and then shook his head. "It—doesn't matter. Will you let Sonny see his kids?"

"Not all the time." Dante shrugged. "I haven't really had time to come up with some custody schedule, all right? I don't know if I'd let Morgan sleep over at Sonny's, but…" After a minute's consideration, he shrugged again. "Yeah, I'd let Dad see them every once in a while. I mean, I guess I'll see him every so often anyway, so I might as well."

When Jason didn't reply, Dante climbed to his feet and headed to the door. His head was spinning with too many thoughts and fears; he was starting to understand Sonny's claustrophobia. Jason's call of "Wait!" almost went unheeded, but Dante reluctantly turned to face the other man again.

"This isn't going to be easy. Carly hates you, Dante. She's hellbent on getting revenge for Michael going to Pentonville." As Dante began to snap a retort, Jason plowed on, "...and…Morgan's going to need a lot of help. He's going to need his family, Dante."

Dante's jaw squared impatiently at the mobster's troubled expression. _"I don't even really know how to explain how close our group was…we were our own little family, y'know?" _"I am his family. I'd do _anything_ for him. Morgan's my brother. Don't you know what that means?"

_"Stone, _God, _Morgan..."_

Then, without a second thought, Dante rushed down the hall to be with his little brother again.

* * *

Dante was, ah, a bit _dim_ this chapter. My excuses are: 1. Dante hasn't slept since Morgan was in the crash a couple days previous, and 2. I have the flu, so my writing's probably reflecting that.

We're down to the home stretch on this story—there'll only be one or two chapters after this. However, this story is actually the beginning of a series called "The Family Stone" that I will post periodically. The stories will generally be the same length as this and will center on Sonny and Dante's relationship and how Stone brings their family together.

Each story's title and chapter titles are based on a certain set of songs (e.g. songs from a certain show or artist). Any ideas as to where I got the chapter titles for this story?


	11. Life Support

"They look like angels when they're sleeping."

Sonny grinned at Robin, who was leaning against the doorframe. "Yeah, but you know what?" His grin widened wickedly: "That's _'cause_ they're asleep."

Robin rolled her eyes and waved her camera at him. "Whatever, Sonny. You know you're going to thank me later for taking all these pictures. The way they've all curled up together is just adorable!"

"Yeah, I know." Sonny's gaze drifted back to his sleeping children—all of them. Kristina's head lay on Molly's shoulder while Michael's hand rested in the curve of her back. Beside them, Morgan was curled up on Dante's lap. Dante's arms, locked around his little brother's waist, looked immovable, as if to protect Morgan from some invisible menace. The rest of the kids seemed completely content in the oblivion of sleep.

With a groan, Sonny stretched and glanced at the clock beside Morgan's hospital bed. _Three in the morning…so it's been exactly three days, I guess._ He shivered at the memory of the nightmare, Carly's phone call, and the rush to the hospital. Then Dante sighed in his sleep and tightened his grip on Morgan, and Sonny had to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Sonny, you know good can come out of bad. Good can _always _come out of bad," Robin said softly. After a moment, Sonny half-turned and glanced at his friend. She looked pale and exhausted; Sonny barely choked back his guilt at the sight of the bruise-like circles under her eyes. It was only the soft voice in his mind whispering _"You haven't failed your promise yet" _that kept him from breaking down.

Instead, Sonny reached out and pulled the slip of a woman into his arms. "Hey, listen to me," he murmured. "You saved all my boys now. I am never, ever going to be able to pay you back for that."

Robin sighed into Sonny's chest. "I'm glad I could help, all right? You don't need to pay me back. We're friends. We're…_family!_ It's worth it." Gently, she pushed away from Sonny; then she grinned. "Just try to keep everyone in one piece for a while. This is the one place I don't enjoy seeing you."

"Hey!" Though he meant to scowl at her, Robin's mischievous eyes made Sonny smile back. "Okay, I'll admit you got a point. I do spend way too much time at GH."

On the bed, Morgan stirred. Then, as Sonny watched worriedly, the boy snuggled closer to Dante and fell back asleep. Sonny's arms fell away from Robin's waist as he sat down in one of the bedside chairs to watch the sleeping children. In the curves of Morgan and Dante's cheekbones, in the lines of their noses, in the way their eyelashes fluttered as they dreamed, they were unmistakably brothers. Sonny wondered, with a painful twist in his gut, how he had possibly missed that fact before he shot Dante.

"Maybe he should have been takin' care of Morgan all along."

"Dante?" Robin shrugged slightly. "He wouldn't have been able to get custody before Jax died, anyway, and if he had, how do we know Dante and Morgan wouldn't have been in a crash? What-ifs don't help anything, Sonny."

"Mmm." Sonny nodded, only half-listening. "What…what if Dante won't let me see Michael or Morgan? What if, when Morgan gets out of the hospital, Dante goes right back to hating me?"

Robin threw her hands in the air impatiently. "Sonny, _what did I just tell you?" _When Sonny stared at her blankly, she groaned, "Listen, I don't have any answers, but Dante seems perfectly reasonable to me. I thought you two had come to an understanding! Somehow I doubt he's going to pull a complete one-eighty and not let you see Michael or Morgan at all.

"What's really wrong?" the doctor pressed as she crouched by the shaking mob boss. "What's really bothering you?"

For a moment, Sonny struggled to form an answer to the question. Thoughts Stone, Dante, and Morgan mixed in his mind and made him dizzy. _I don't want…I almost… _With one shaking hand, Sonny reached out and brushed first Morgan's bangs away from his face, then Dante's. Beside him, Robin squeezed his hand gently. "I don't want to lose my family, Robin."

"You won't." The rough voice made both Sonny and Robin jump. Dante squinted up at his father, whose hand had frozen an inch from Dante's forehead. "S'okay," Dante mumbled, though Sonny wasn't sure whether or not that meant he could keep stroking his son's dark, tousled locks. "We already talked about this, Sonny. You can come and visit us when you want."

Sonny nodded and swiped at an errant tear; he didn't trust himself to speak. Dante snorted. "You look terrible, Dad. Robin, you too…when was the last time you slept?—Never mind. Stupid question." With a rueful look at the pile of children around him, Dante said wryly, "I don't think there's room left for either of you on this bed, but you'd better get some sleep."

Before Robin could protest, Sonny swept her clear off her feet and carefully laid her across two of the chairs. "Dante's right." As he covered her with his suit jacket, he murmured, "Sweet dreams, little sister."

"Good night. Uh, morning. Whatever," she muttered sleepily in reply. Sonny flashed her a grin and then turned toward the other chairs with a sigh.

"Hey—wait." Sonny started as a hand closed around his wrist. When he turned wearily toward the hospital bed, Dante's gaze softened slightly. "I'm going to take care of them," he said. "I'm going to take care of my brothers the way you took care of Uncle Stone."

Instantly, Sonny's grin widened. "I know you will, bud. Get some sleep, right?"

"Right." For a moment, Dante's grip on his father's arm tightened. The cop looked a thousand kinds of confused, as if he felt he should say something but wasn't sure what. Sonny had to bite his lip to keep from blurting out the words he used to tuck his other children in: _"Sweet dreams. Love you, buddy!" _"Um…you too."

That was good enough, Sonny thought tiredly as he curled up in the remaining bedside chairs. _Good enough for now…_

* * *

All that's left is the finale and credits! This scene is short, but I had fun writing it.


	12. Seasons of Love

"There is something I want."

At first, Sonny didn't recognize the voice speaking. A strange fog was obscuring his vision, but he had a sensation of warmth and light and the aroma of good food. Then, the person talking continued, and terror jolted through him. _Oh, my God, not again._

"Brenda, you know the book that Robin made for me?"

_Stone!_

"There's a letter in there you oughta read."

Another voice filled the air. "Okay…is—is that what you wanted me to do?"

"That's it." Sonny could almost hear the secretive smile in Stone's voice. "I want you to read the letter out loud. It's kind of great."

Next, Robin's giggling voice: "They're all kind of great!" There was a creak as Robin presumably stood up and walked over to find the book. "The book's right here. What letter do you want her to read?"

Sonny was scraping desperately at his eyes, trying to make himself see, when the fog rolled away of its own accord. There was Stone, sitting in the overstuffed chair with Brenda crouched by his side. Stone's sightless eyes seemed to twinkle a little as he said matter-of-factly: "Sonny's."

Brenda shot Stone a look—irritated? Confused?—as Robin brought her the book. From where he was standing, hidden in the shadows and trapped in his own body, Sonny shivered. _Can't really blame her. I was a real asshole to her then. _"'Kay." Brenda sighed and smiled tightly as she leafed through the memory book. "I'd know that writing anywhere!" she added ruefully as she found the right page.

For a moment, Brenda hesitated. Then, as Sonny's heart beat faster and faster in his chest, she laughed quietly and began:

"_Stone, my man—You just went off to bed and left me here with BB and Lucille working on 'The Midnight Blues,' so I figure it's a good time to try and do what Robin asked. She said remember things that would make you laugh. What puts me away is…how you can laugh in the middle of all this. how you can take stuff that nearly stops me from breathing when I think about it, and cut it down to size with one of those gross, black comments—" _Brenda laughed again—_"you're getting so good at…" _Stone grinned from ear to ear as she stopped reading to giggle.

"_In a way, with all respect to Robin—"_—the younger girl's face grew solemn—_"—it feels presumptuous to try and make you laugh about anything. Then I think about times like you mad at me for leaving the Jag out in the parking lot at 4:00 A.M."_ The dream-Sonny slipped out of the shadows and felt his heart stop for a second at the sound of Brenda reading his letter. The other Sonny, trapped in himself, struggled to fight back a moan.

"—_and going down in your undershorts and sneakers to put it in the garage, not knowing the temperature had dropped thirty degrees, and locking yourself out and yelling under my window…" _The other three were laughing again at this past mistake, now funny, not noticing that Sonny stood listening with a broken heart. "_…till I came out of a long hot shower—" _

Then, Robin turned and noticed him, and Brenda stopped reading as her smile faded. Sonny smiled a little at tiny, worried Robin and stepped further into the room.

"Um…_and…heard you and went to let you in." _The memory-Sonny reached over and patted Stone's shoulder gently. Robin whispered that Sonny was there, and Stone reached a hand up towards his friend.

"Hey!" Sonny caught Stone's hand and knelt beside him as he ran his hand through Stone's hair. Stone waved his other hand at Brenda and said, "Go—go on, Brenda." When Sonny whimpered, Stone tightened his grip.

"_Or the time you were going to prove to me that any fool can cook and freaked when the lobsters tried to climb out of the pot." _At that, Stone grinned and rubbed his thumb along Sonny's knuckles. Sonny found himself chuckling too when Brenda continued,_ "Or when, instead of three cloves of garlic, you tossed three heads of garlic (unpeeled) into the marinara sauce and then ate it, because no way were you going to admit it was foul." _Stone shook his head and wrinkled his nose at the remembered taste. Both the dream Sonny and the present Sonny had to choke back laughter at the look on his face.

When Brenda's smile faded, Sonny knew what part of the letter she had reached; his grip on Stone's hand tightened exponentially. "_ I remember other things, not funny, that will be with me for the rest of my life: The first time I saw you with—" _Brenda cleared her throat painfully. "—_with the other kids under the viaduct by the train yards, standing over the oil drum fire, the light on your face and your teeth chattering while you pretended you weren't freezing your tail off in a blue jean jacket with the wind coming of the lake, and nobody had a clue who ripped off my car radio…"_

Sonny glanced down at Stone's hand and then over at his face. As usual, Stone was smiling slightly. Sonny wondered how he managed it. Brenda exhaled shakily._"I could go on with this all night, but that's not the point. The idea is we've shared a lot of stuff, and I've learned a hell of a lot more from you than you have from me, and I'm real grateful for that." _

Tears burned the corners of Sonny's eyes; he ducked his head to hide them and brushed a hand over his face. Brenda swallowed again and finished, _"And I love you man. Sonny."_

Stone said something funny next, something about ripping off Sonny's car radio and only getting twenty bucks for it, but Sonny could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears. He grinned shakily as Stone patted his shoulder. _How is he—I should be—be the one comforting him! _

Then Stone squeezed his shoulder, hard, and the girls kept giggling, and Sonny realized it wasn't really a nightmare. That squeeze to his shoulder, and that hand clinging to his, that horrible joke about not getting enough cash for the damn radio, the whole dream meant one thing:

_Everything was going to turn out okay._

_

* * *

_Tomorrow, I'm posting the credits and preview for the next story in this series. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Icey._  
_


	13. Love Heals: Bonus Material

Hey, y'all! Welcome to the bonus material. Here, you'll find an alternate ending to _Quality, _credits (where you may just find your name), a dedication, and a preview for the sequel to this story, _18 Days._

* * *

Alternate Ending from Dante's Point of View

"Are you going to be okay by yourself for a minute, kiddo?"

Morgan nodded up at his brother. "Dad's going to help me pack!" With an awkward sweep of one of his crutches, Morgan gestured to the slew of baseball cards and Yankees gear that lay scattered around the hospital room. In an undertone, he added: "I have to remind him about taking us to the World Series, anyway."

"You mean you heard that when you were out of it?" Dante asked incredulously. When his younger brother nodded, the cop ruffled Morgan's hair. "All right! I wondered if the offer of Yankees tickets wouldn't make you wake up. Have fun. Take care of him!" he called to their father.

"I will!" Sonny called after Dante as Dante strode out the door. The younger man shook off his lingering unease with his father and forced himself to concentrate on where he was going. As he passed the nurse's station, Robin smiled and called his name; he waved a hand but kept moving. _If I stop to talk now, _he thought grimly, _I'll never get this over with._

The chapel was as empty as ever when Dante cautiously pushed the door open. All of the candles were burnt out. He dipped a hand in the holy water font and crossed himself. Then he slowly lowered himself into one of the pews.

He sighed and shifted his weight. The pew creaked. _Now or never. _"Well…hey, God," Dante began awkwardly. "I know I haven't bothered talking to You lately—hell, Ma reminds me of that every chance she gets—but I've been really busy with Morgan and all the custody—no, that's not right. I should know enough not to lie to You.

"I guess…God, I don't have a great relationship with my father here. I guess you know that, though." Dante chuckled darkly. "Things have been getting better between Dad and me lately: see, I'm even calling Sonny 'Dad' now, ever since Morgan got hurt. Thing is, and this is going to sound stupid, I don't know if I _want_ to have a good relationship with my dad. I don't know if I want to lo—really like him. I mean, come on, God, he's a mobster! I'm a cop! I should hate him!

"…but I don't." With a groan, Dante rubbed his aching head. "I just can't hate Sonny. He's…a…he was a good brother to my uncle Stone—I've been calling Stone Cates that, Dad thinks it's nice—and—Sonny's a good father. God." Dante sighed so hard that his ribs hurt. "No matter what horrible things he's done, he loves his kids and wants what's right for them!

"Now I'm…This is the hard part. See, God, I got to raise both my brothers now that Carly's breaking down. I have to take on that responsibility, and I don't think I'm ready. It's not that I don't love them!" Dante amended hastily with a glance at the crucifix. "I love my family. I just don't think I'm ready."

Slowly, Dante stood. "What I'm really saying, I guess, is I need Your help. I need all the help I can get now that I'm the one taking care of Michael and Morgan.

"And…Uncle Stone? Thanks. I owe you, big time."

"Dante?"

Dante jumped at the sound of the door creaking open. Morgan poked his head in cautiously; Dante stifled a snort at the sight of his little brother using his crutches as doorstops. "You ready to go?"

Morgan nodded cheerfully. "Yup. I—Dante!"

The fear in his brother's voice nearly made Dante's heart stop. Morgan's petrified gaze was riveted to the front of the chapel. Dante whirled to see what frightened Morgan:

Two votive candles had flamed to life. No one else was in the room.

"Dante, they just—they just—what happened?" Morgan asked fearfully. Dante relaxed and started to chuckle as he watched the two flames dance merrily, despite the fact that there was no breeze. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, Morgan." Dante wrapped a gentle arm around his brother's shoulder and then saluted the spot where, he imagined, a long-dead teenager with hair to his shoulders was grinning at both of them. "Do you believe in guardian angels?"

Morgan bit his lip. "I guess. Why?"

"Well," the older brother said slowly, "_that_ was yours, saying hi."

* * *

Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed this story! I hope you will follow me to the sequel. Special thanks to the reviewers (rosie44, SheWhoFliesWithDragons, softballgal13, and bellagh669—I'll explain Kristina's back story in the next two parts of this series!), as well as those who added this to their favorites (Mama Bear and Her Cubs, rocklesson86, pjcp, and Shadoee) and those who put it on story alert (jlynd29, irishgirl9, and JasonCourtneyFan17).

_Dedicated to Jordan, who appreciates my obsession with GH_

* * *

**The following preview has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES by the author, because I say so.**

"I didn't realize," Dante said through gritted teeth, "you owned—this much—_stuff_—Morgan—Stone—Corinthos!"

The aforementioned younger brother had the heart to look a little guilty as he leaned on his crutches and watched Dante and Michael drag box after box of clothes and toys into the tiny apartment. "I didn't buy any of it! It's not really my fault!"

With a groan, Michael dumped a crate of Yankees gear on the sofa. "Y'know, Dante, Morgan does have a point! Either Mom, Dad, or Jax—" Suddenly, the all color drained from Michael's face. "Oh, hell. Morgan…"

The smaller boy's eyes welled with tears. Dante dropped his cardboard box with a thud and pulled Morgan into his arms. "Hey, little bro. Hey, it's okay. It's okay. I got you."

"Morgan, I'm sorry!"

"Michael, it's fine." Dante shot Michael a warning look. _This is not a good time for you to freak out on me, man. _"How about you help Lulu set up the sofa bed, right? Morgan and I need to talk."

For a moment, Michael wavered; then, with one last pained look at Morgan, he followed his cousin into the other room. Dante watched him go and then pulled Morgan onto the sofa with a sigh. The boy curled into his brother's side with a whimper. "Hey. Hey. Listen to me. It's not your fault that Jax died."

"But it is!" Morgan wailed. "I'm the one who wanted to go sailing! I made him—"

"No. No, you didn't make Jax do anything. Listen to me: Jax took you out that day because he loved you, right? You two had a lot of fun. I know—know how much you miss him, bud, but you can't blame yourself for what happened. Do you know how to drive?"

Morgan blinked up at Dante tearfully. "No…"

"Then how could you have stopped the car from crashing?" At that, Morgan bit his lip. Dante waited for the words to sink in before he continued: "Morg, I knew Jax, okay? The one thing I know for sure about him is that he loved you and your siblings. He wouldn't want you to—"

Both brothers jumped (Dante with a curse) as Dante's phone went off. The cop cursed again when he saw who was calling. "Sorry, buddy, I have to take this. –Lucky, what is it?"

_"Dante, we just got a missing persons report filed, and we need you on the search team."  
_

"Missing persons report?" Dante could feel Morgan's eyes burning his back as he began to pace. "What—what happened?"

_"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out." _Lucky sighed; Dante could imagine that the other cop was pacing, too. _"See, Jason Morgan came in this morning—looked frantic. Looked terrible. Apparently, he'd been out in the woods for the past couple of days searching, but he didn't find anything…That's why he came to us."  
_

"Well—who? Who was he looking for? Sam? Carly?" _Has she totally lost her mind?  
_

As Dante spoke, Michael, Lulu, and Josslyn slipped into the room. Michael shot a questioning glance at Morgan, who shrugged helplessly. Dante shook his head at all of them as Lucky sighed and corrected:

_"No…Damian Spinelli…and Kristina Davis."_

* * *

I'll see you at the sequel, _18 Days_!

Cheers,

Icey.


End file.
